C.Q.CALMA - ePortfolio - Assignment 3

From the start, I already feel hopeful about better understanding and appreciating photography more holistically. Looking back on my initial sentiments, photography for me has just always been about preserving memories, and it still is, but now, it’s more of a foundation which I built my succeeding experiences in the course from. Rather than pure sentimentality, I’m happy to say that arriving at the midpoint of this course allowed me to achieve that expectation to a significant extent. I witnessed diversity in both practice and context through the variety of outputs, stories, and sentiments from my fellow course mates where I was able to further reinforce my belief of its complexity and therefore, added my appreciation for the field.

I noticed that some were similar to me (e.g. captured something that caught attention), whereas others were more in-depth or “there’s more than meets the eye” type of shots (e.g. captured something representative of a nostalgic experience), and this is just about the subjectivity of the practice alone. Learning to express, connect with your audience, and provide a common understanding of this subjectivity through an objectively structured visual presentation is a complex thing in itself, and as we moved along, I saw how my coursemates implemented targeted efforts to achieve effective means of doing so.

One of my key takeaways is realizing the extent to which something can be expressed through a photo. Looking through e-portfolios from assignment 2 exposed me to different stories beyond what is shown. I didn't know or probably would never know the full message or intention of some photographers if I hadn't read their description of it. But I also thought that that's one of the things that makes photography somehow magical because there's something for the artist and something for the audience. There's a unique takeaway for each and there's a limitation to where it overlaps, but it nevertheless succeeds in making a connection or impression that will either influence and/or broaden one's perspective at some point.

Building on that, I also came to realize the importance of this overlap between the artist and audience perception because as a student of this course, I've come to a conclusion that I want to have a shot that is either ethereal or tells a story someday, and this overlapping perception is what I thought can have an analogy with a summary or as little as a sentence of a story because there's so much message a photo can hold to a photographer but there's only so much that can be expressed to or taken by the audience.

Realizing that boundary makes it harder for me to imagine a completely successful shot, especially with telling a story because another one of my key takeaways is the background of an audience affects how they perceive a photo. I've come to find this evident with culturally significant photos. To me, who has a similar background as the photographer or encountered the same thing firsthand or witnessed the context through media, I can relate and understand to an extent the message they are trying to emulate, but someone who hasn't may be prompted to emphasize something else, like an emotion instead of the story or culture preservation.

To be honest, it's quite overwhelming when I think about these factors, but aside from being the overthinking detail-oriented person I am sometimes, I think it's also these things considered that make what is shared, well, effective. But then again, I don't want to be stressing too much about them as this journey is something I want to enjoy while adding progress to my goal despite inevitable failures along the way.

Moving forward, I plan to first work on the basics and familiarize myself better with the proper execution of composition styles, techniques, and display of elements before delving into more in-depth applications. I plan to take around 1-3 or 3-5 shots every once in a while and find the courage to post some in the course's DFs for open criticism and discussion. Although I feel nervous about it, I feel enthusiastic about what areas of improvement and strength people see that I have yet to recognize and if possible, make it into a continuous conversation with updates that can hopefully become helpful for my fellow coursemates. During the activities, I've seen how critical one can be to themselves and I’ve come to acknowledge their personal way of practice and reflected on how I can also incorporate similar sentiments with how I evaluate my own works without compromising what I want to achieve. Thus, I'm looking forward to the upcoming face-to-face class with great enthusiasm, which I'm positive will equip me with another valuable experience to look back on as I continue to pursue development in the field and through the course.

Although not entirely impossible, I believe the chances are quite slim for me right now to arrive at that seemingly perfect shot/s I want to achieve, but if I do, it might just become a family heirloom.

This blog so far is my latest accomplishment in the course and with anxiety, I await for more to conquer.